79 responses to “Thursday, 4/5/12, Public Square”

I remember when Rick taught me about PNAC and then started me on a journey of learning about this group of war-mongers who planned to control the world militarily. They didn’t even hide — it was all right there for everyone to see, but there was no media coverage to speak of, absolutely no outrage, few people were even aware of the true meaning of the word neocon.

I thought Romney was just the best the republicans could do, the one halfway reasonable candidate out of their clown car full of candidates. He’s more it seems, he’s a tool for some truly evil men. Electing Romney would be Bush2 on steroids.

I did not know about Cohen. But, yes, Robert Kagan is associated with his campaign in the capacity of an advisor, but it is my understanding Romney is not following his advice. Rather, he is doing his war hawk march to the drum beat of the tea party in the scramble for votes.

Why have an advisor if not listening to him? Just get rid of the guy. As for the Tea Party folks – these are the ones who want war just as much as the NeoCons. These are the folks who this being patriotic means to dress up in an Uncle Sam costume and wave the flag while singing Yankee Doodle Dandy.

If these folks want their war so damn bad – they can all dress up in their costumes and go pick any desert in Iran – all one-way-tickets – and have their much-desired war.

AS forthe rest of us Americans – the smart ones – we can continue to rebuild our country from the damage these NeoCons did under GWB.

Romney is so damn busy trying to please everyone and anyone that he ends up pleasing no one. If it were not for my undying belief that there’s nothing so stupid Americans won’t vote for it, I’d comment on how big Romney’s gonna lose.

But… when you control the voting machines and the local election officials and you have your very own Pravda in fux news, anything can, and probably will, happen in our elections.

If you watch Romney giving a speech – watch this man’s eyes. They dart back and forth (doesn’t that mean something in body language?) and then when he is done with any sentence – he cocks his head and has that smirk.

I saw a political cartoon this morning that describes Romney and the republicans. Romney and a group of men in suits were backstage, you could see a crowd waiting just around the corner. Romney was bent over at the waist and a panel was opened on his back. All the men with him were frantically looking for the batteries.

I agree he has no chance to win legally. I saw George W. Bush handed the presidency by SCOTUS. I’ve been watching the irregularities of the republican primaries, the many states the voting has been very illegal, very screwed up, very questionable.

I’ll never be fooled again! I’ll never ignore the obvious again. These evil men have been patiently waiting for a new tool to escalate current military engagements and wage new wars that I have no doubts will lead to a new world war. They’re crazy and capable of anything and everything!

Giving this bunch of loonies even an inch would mean you can stop worrying about the economy, the War On Women, in fact stop worrying completely because it’s over, all over.

It would be a little bit more honest if any one of them came out and actually said they’re still trying to overturn all the New Deal programs. Those damn democrats just keep on successfully passing programs that help the people and keep the Gilded Age from being complete reality again.

“Conservatives say if you don’t give the rich more money, they will lose the incentive to invest. As for the poor, conservatives tell us they’ve lost all incentive because we’ve given them too much money” – George Carlin.

How can you lose the incentive to invest when you’re assured of a taxpayer-funded bailout when you run your companies to the ground?

George W. Bush GAVE his buddies on Wall Street their bailouts – on the phone – over the weekend.

Hey – my bank does not give me that kind of service…

BTW – when the automakers asked for the same type of bailouts – George W. Bush made them come crawlling to the Capitol with hands outstretched. Then when GWB decided he did not like it because these automaker CEOs flew in their business jets to Washington – he made them leave without even getting to ask for the money – then these CEO’s had to drive to Washington.

Why the different treatment between the Wall Street fat cats and the automakers who employed alot of working class Americans?

I don’t know how a blog swarm works, but I think we should try to participate in this blog against theocracy blog swarm. I know it’s a busy weekend for everyone. I’ve got a houseful of company coming. However, even though we all have differing spiritual beliefs, or lack thereof, I think the regulars here are pretty united in our horror of theocracy.

I’m going to start keeping track of what Romney says because we need to NOT FORGET. My Mother always said the problem with lying was that you had to keep track. Evidently Mr. Romney’s Mother didn’t mention that little problem. And we should always remember the wise words of Maya Angelou: “The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.”

Add to this list if you can and I’ll bring it forward at least once a week and we can keep it current. I’m ‘of an age’ when I need to write things down.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD:Of course you get rid of Obamacare, that’s the easy one, but there are others: Planned Parenthood, we’re gonna get rid of that. The subsidy for Amtrak, I would eliminate that. The National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, both excellent programs, but we can’t afford to borrow money to pay for these things.”

WOMEN’S RIGHTS:
Romney supported the Blunt Amendment
He has come out in favor of ‘a fertilized egg is a person’ (Personhood amendments criminalize birth control!)
He sends his wife out in an attempt to convince women their basic rights should be lower on their list of concerns.
He has promised to do away with Title X and Planned Parenthood and has no concern about the basic health care needs of millions of women.

HEALTH CARE:
ROMNEY: “I want to return health care to the states. I will repeal Obamacare and let people have responsibility for their own health care.” (Nevermind that the mandate to buy health insurance is a mandate for personal responsibility and one he insisted be part of Romneycare. [eye roll])

I think it’s time we said, sorry Mitten$, but for once we’re going to hold you to your recent statements and assume that these accurately reflect your current (pardon the expression) “thinking.” (Even while we all recognize how much he used his EtchASketch to secure the republican nomination.) All that remains now is for you to choose a prospective V.P., and no matter which conservative black Jewish Hispanic lesbian you manage to come up with she’s not going to do you a world of good.

Even videotapes will not convince the Rabid Right Republicans – but it will have an effect on those people Romney needs to win the general – independents, moderates in both parties, minorities and women.

That is where Mittens will find his biggest downfall – with the women leading the parade AWAY from Romney and the GOP.

I hear analysts stating that now Romney can pivot and disengage himself from the
Far Right Wingers. I just don’t think women will forget how Romney sat there and kissed each and every Far Right Winger’s butt – once you’ve kissed that many Far Right Winger butts – that stench does NOT come off.

Republicans are taking this election as a given because Romeny is such a business-savvy expert. Yeah, an expert at buying companies at bargain prices, bankrupting them, using taxpayer-funded subsidies and/or tax breaks, outsourcing American jobs and then ‘in his own words – likes to fire people’.

Yeah, that’s just what we need – more Americans without jobs and without the safety nets of the social programs.

This election won’t be decided by republican votes. They’ve all said “Anybody but Obama” clearly. We know they have no principles, they just want to win and to hell with everything else.

Women will NOT forget!

Minorities will NOT forget! I saw a poll of Jewish voters recently. The republicans are trying to push the idea that President Obama isn’t an ally of Israel. Well, the Jewish people polled weren’t buying the republican slant. It was huge percentages for Obama.

How many from the LGBT community do you think vote republican?

Independents are more sensible and certainly won’t throw America under the bus in order to make sure President Obama is a one-term president.

The republican problem is very clear. If they expect to win, they need to run someone who is electable.

Whenever you hear a republican talk about not wanting to be like Europe, and how we need to impose “austerity” (meaning severe budget cuts) to get the economy back on track, know that this is what they are arguing for.

——————-

Human cost of Greek crisis

Greeks are facing severe austerity cuts because of their country’s mounting debt crisis. Here, nine Greek citizens describe the effect the cuts are having on them.

You constantly hear republicans talk about cuts and deficit reduction but revenue is just supposed to appear out of nowhere thanks to the cuts leading to growth. We can see how well thats working in Europe.

We actually can look to the Bush2 years as proof, but the republicans don’t want to bring up those years. They’ve erased them from their memory. President Obama is pretty amazing! His powers actually allowed him to begin a recession in 2007! He didn’t even become president until 2009!

IIRC – Romney avoided going to Vietnam because he was a missionary in France for 3 years. Yeah, while he was over there bicycling around with those Europeans, that he now trashes as socilalist lowlifes, alot of our American boys were being sent to Vietnam. And alot of them did not come home alive. Alot of them left their sanity in those damn rice fields in Vietnam but their physical bodies came home – only to be homeless, hungry and no hope.

And yet this France-lovin Missionary wants to strut around like a Cock Rooster crowing for another G-D political war?

I know I am a cynic -but seriously, dude, a 550-pound Easter Egg made out of chocolate is what you came up with give to the Pope? And then this headline somehow enshrines the Pope as being -selfless because he is donating this egg?

Religion is some screwed up B.S. Damn, people, we’ve got real problems and some 550-pound egg is supposed to be a good thing?

Due to Florida’s Gun Laws – the GOP Convention has come up with a list of banned items from the Convention site but guns are permitted.

One banned item – any string longer than 6 inches.

And then Republicans wonder why they are the laughingstock and butt of every joke in the world?

That’s the saddes part – the entire world is watching this GOP Klown Kar Kalliope Circus.

It’s bad enough that Americans have to claim these buffons as fellow American citizens – but now the rest of the world is looking at this GOP convention to see which particular Klown gets annointed to be the possible US president and about to go on the global stage?

Fnord posted on Tuesday about the heinous and misnamed “religious freedom” bill passed by the Kansas House and up for a vote in the Senate. It’s really a “freedom to discriminate” bill with far reaching and obviously unintended consequences. It will effectively nullify all local non-discrimination ordinances, and stomp all over the Kansas value of home rule. Wicked, I wouldn’t hold my breath on these courts invalidating the law.

Today, I got this from our old friend Thomas Witt and the Kansas Equality Coalition.

Greetings KEC members, allies, and supporters –

As you know, the Kansas House of Representatives has passed SB142 (originally HB2260), which is the far-right’s attempt to legalize discrimination against LGBT Kansans.

The Senate must still vote on this bill, but is on legislative “Spring Break” until April 25. The earliest SB142 can be voted on is Thursday, April 26.

Join us as we rally to convince the Senate that fairness is a Kansas value, and that they should vote NO on this discriminatory piece of legislation.

We’re working on a lineup of speakers – we’ll get those names out to you as soon as possible.

We’ll be rallying on the south steps of the Kansas State Capitol beginning at 11:30 on April 26th. Bring your flags! Bring your signs! Governor Brownback’s administration has once before tried to tell us that our flags are “dangerous weapons.” Let’s see if he continues to try to treat us differently than he treats his friends. Let’s see if he’s finally come to realize that LGBT Kansans are not second-class citizens, who are deserving of the same fair treatment as everyone else.

It’s two days before the planned We Are Women march on April 28th. This date was chosen by a national organization. I’d give about anything if the two groups could get together and march, and I also fear the two events will interfere with one another, possibly keeping attendance down at both.

On Saturday, April 28, women (and men) all over the nation will be marching on their state capitols to protest the G.O.P.’s horrific, indefensible War on Women. Considering that the very gender of The Group is under attack and the political accord that binds us together, this war, more than any other legislative indignity, and this march, more than many others, call for our full and rabid representation in Topeka.

The march will begin at 11 am from the historic Brown Vs. B.O.E. site in Topeka, 1515 SE Monroe Street, the march will end at the State Capitol Building. Those who do not wish to march can meet us at the Capitol to rally at 11:30 am.

Isn’t it sad that these Religious Republicans (or so they claim) are the folks that seem to be so obsessed about everybody’s sex lives.

Women should not have birth control because then it obviously makes them sluts and prostitutes (I’m using Rush’s descriptive words – not mine)

And, of course, the never ending Religious Zealots hatred of homosexuals.

I would just once like to see these self-professing Religious Republicans look into their own sex lives – and the sex lives ofheir colleageues – and then call out the sins of adultery – pedophilia – or anything else tha tmight pop up.

Obama has a small, but consistent, lead in the national matchups and in key swing states.

State-by-state polls mirror the national results. Gallup, for example, periodically polls voters in a dozen swing states: Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico in the West; Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania in the Midwest and industrial mid-Atlantic regions; Florida, North Carolina and Virginia in the South; and New Hampshire. Their latest such survey, conducted March 20-26, showed Obama with a 51%-42% lead in those states – the first time Gallup has found Obama with a lead on that measure.

Obama’s lead in the swing states came largely from independent voters, among independents in swing states, Obama did particularly well with women.

You know, Prairie Pond, if Sam Brownback is a ‘real’ Catholic – he should take a look back at the history of the discrimination against his own church.

The Klu Klux Klan was not just about hating the blacks – these good Christian folks (they must have been Christians because they used a burning cross as their intimidation symbol) – these folks also hated the Catholics, Jews and the homosexuals.

Come to think of it – wasn’t that Hitler’s list of people he also wanted to get rid of?

I still remember the issue of John F Kennedy being a Catholic president. Many ‘good’ Christians(?) were openly saying they did not want the Pope giving orders to their president.

So – wasn’t that discrimination against the Catholics?

So – what makes SAmmie (a converted CAtholic) so ready, willing and able to discriminate against any other group of people?

Or is it because his people (the Catholic Church) – even though they were discriminated against see nothing wrong with discriminating against homosexuals – and women?

This is my opinion and a guess at best since I think all those groups keep their agendas as secret as possible. They put things out publicly but I’m guessing keep most of it close to the ‘vest.’

I think all those groups are supportive of one another — the neocons use the religious and C Street groups, the religious use the neocons. They’re all for dominance. I really don’t think the neocons care as much about religion as they profess, their main goal is military dominance. The religious think a Christian theocracy is the goal.

Having read up on Kagan some time ago, the answer to the question is “NO”. These guys were absolutely delusional and want world war three and four all in the idea that Israel will become the new world capital.

Here’s more proof Romney will say whatever he thinks his audience will buy. He knows his audience buys a lot of made-up stuff. Too bad he’s never realized the microphone goes out to more than just his gullible audience.

Mitt Romney continued his verbal assault on President Obama on Thursday, accusing him of spending “too much time at Harvard” while speaking at a rooftop event in Harrisburg, Penn.

It’s an odd attack coming from a fellow Harvard graduate, especially considering Romney spent more time at the Ivy League institution than Obama did.

Romney enrolled in a four-year program at Harvard in 1971, eventually earning a joint JD and MBA and graduating cum laude in 1975. In 1988, Obama began attending Harvard Law School. He spent three years there, eventually becoming president of the Harvard Law Review before graduating magna cum laude and receiving his JD in 1991. That’s four years for Romney, three for Obama.

fnord – did you get your Republican Presdiential Platform Questionnaire in the mail today? I just got mine. It’s a long form and many questions about the usual GOP hot button wedge issues. But there were several about Obama’s – Radical Left Agenda. It says on the bottom of the page that I have to complete this questionnaire so they can ‘tabulate’ – WTF does that mean?

And then ,of course, there are several ways to donate money. There is the section where you complete your questionnaire and mark the amount you want to give.

There is a section where you do not complete the questionnaire but still want to donate money.

There is a section where you do not complete the questionnaire and you do not want to donate money but you want to send them $15 to cover the cost of ‘tabulation’? Again …WTF??

This is from the RNC – Republican National Committee in Washington DC.

There is even a business postage-paid envelope included but with this statement on the front of the envelope that you can use your postage so that it will save the RNC the cost of postage.

I skimmed through the questions – but I really feel like just writing my own statement in BIG LETTERS – that when Republicans stop this War on Women is the day I’ll complete their damn questionnaire.

“If you watch Romney giving a speech – watch this man’s eyes. They dart back and forth (doesn’t that mean something in body language?)”

Yes he is not wanting to make eye contact so as to be locked down as to telling the truth. He knows or does feel what he is saying is not actuate and eye contact is a sign of truth telling. No assurance that if someone makes eye contact that they are telling the truth. I knowing the tendency so if I need to, will force myself to make eye contact if I need to lie to someone. My problem is that I tend to be too honest so I despise lying to someone. LOL the truth is suppose to set you free but it can also get you yelled at too.

Today, in a moment that’s bound to go down in Republican National Committee history as one of the most drunk-seeming sober moments of all time, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus dismissed the notion that the “war on women” is anything other than another myth perpetuated by Democrats. It’s as fake as that other war everyone keeps talking about — the war on caterpillars.

Here’s a suggestion of what we’ll wear to the polls this fall when we vote the totally clueless republicans out of office.

There’s a problem with Reince Priebus’s thinking. He and the rest of his party will come to a rude awakening when women prove that they actually can and do think for themselves and are sick and tired of being belittled by the likes of the misogynist RNC and GOP.